Stacie Klein has much of the traditional fare for her Passover Seder meal: brisket, potato
kugel, matzo-ball soup.

But she’ll also offer a few nontraditional options, such as eggplant casserole for her vegan
friends.

Much as with the food, Klein will mix tradition with a contemporary approach when retelling the
story that the Seder represents and celebrates: the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt
more than 3,000 years ago.

Klein, of Clintonville, plans to welcome about 10 people on Monday evening, when the eight-day
holiday begins. She turned to online resources for guidance and plans to use the liberation story
to help her guests consider pressing issues in today’s world and to question what the story means
to them.

“It’s taken on a little bit of a social justice-y feel,” Klein said of her upcoming feast. “
Passover is all about slavery and freedom and redemption, so I think it fits nicely with some
issues of the 21st century.”

Klein, 25, is among hundreds of young Jewish adults throughout the country who are the hosts of
unique and personally meaningful Passover Seders, thanks to funds and guides from NEXT: A Division
of Birthright Israel. The organization seeks to foster lifelong Jewish engagement among the nearly
250,000 young-adult Jews who have visited Israel courtesy of the program since 1999.

Last month, NEXT kicked off another program that offers monthly seminars to help Jewish leaders
learn new ways to connect young adults to their local faith communities. The NEXTwork Hub
initiative links professionals in Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Indianapolis and Lexington, Ky.,
and also will include mentorship and partnered study. Organizers expect that it will last at least
two years.

Klein is participating in the workshops through her work at the Jewish Federation of Columbus as
co-director of the Atid (Hebrew for
future) program for people in their 20s and 30s. A survey released by the federation and
other local agencies this week shows that 30 percent of the Columbus area’s roughly 25,500 Jews are
ages 20 to 39.

Morlie Levin, chief executive officer of NEXT, said the NEXTwork Hub training is the first of
its kind focused on people who work with the young-adult Jewish population.

“We’ve got the opportunity to reach ... very large numbers and help large numbers of people
explore and deepen their sense of Judaism, connection to Jewish people, and know what it means to
be a part of a larger whole,” Levin said. “It’s a very exciting opportunity that each of us feel
very profoundly every day.”

Levin said the peer-to-peer do-it-yourself experiences, such as the Passover Seders, help deepen
Jewish identity and connection, as do experiences created and led by people who are more
knowledgeable or associated with Jewish agencies.

“The important thing is, for young Jewish adults to find meaningful ways to explore and to
deepen their own sense of connection to one another, to communities and to Israel,” Levin said, “
because it is connecting them to the larger Jewish people, which we hold as a high value.”

The NEXT Passover program follows in the footsteps of another NEXT “do it yourself” initiative
that encourages young adults to be hosts of Shabbat (Sabbath) meals. Another do-it-yourself program
is timed to the High Holidays.

Since 2011, about 1,000 Seders have been held through the program, organizers said. Among those
who signed up as hosts last year, more than half said it was their first time as hosts of a
Seder.

In addition to being a host this year, Klein sought to boost participation in the holiday by
helping to establish a Columbus link at findaseder.com, which connects hosts with people looking
for a place to celebrate.

She said young people are not always encouraged to lead a Seder meal and make decisions about
what traditions they want to keep. As such, the NEXT Passover stipends provide young Jews with
experiences they might not otherwise have.

Among the traditions she’ll stick with is breaking a piece of unleavened matzo bread and hiding
half in the home for afikoman (dessert). The meal is not over, she explained, until the hidden
piece is found and shared by everyone at the table.

She said the tradition offers a good lens through which to view the need to end affliction and
suffering in today’s world.

“Our work is not done until we’re reunited,” she said, “until we’re back together as one and,
hopefully, healed and no longer experiencing that affliction.”